Courtesy of N.Y.U.

Chances are “very good” that rent-stabilized tenants of Washington Square Village will appeal the dismissal of their lawsuit against N.Y.U., said their attorney.

“We’re very disappointed with this decision,” said Lawrence Goldberg. “The judge put the burden on the poor and elderly instead of on N.Y.U., where it belonged.”

Monday, a judge ruled that the state supreme court wasn’t the appropriate venue for the lawsuit, which alleged that, by redeveloping a park-like courtyard at Washington Square Village in order to make way for high-rise buildings, N.Y.U. was depriving tenants of a “required service” in violation of rent stabilization law.

Mr. Goldberg rejected as a “red herring” the notion that the project was still “in its infancy,” as the judge put it in a ruling that suggested the matter was the domain of the Department of Housing and Community Renewal. “We’re reviewing our options as to whether or not we wish to appeal, go to the D.H.C.R., or do both simultaneously,” said the attorney.

Today, N.Y.U.’s University Space Priorities Working Group, a body of faculty representatives that is soliciting input from the N.Y.U. community regarding the expansion plan, said in an e-mail unrelated to the lawsuit that it was “considering whether space needs might also be met by purchasing or leasing new real estate elsewhere, instead of, or in combination with, construction on the superblocks.”

The group is expected to submit its recommendations regarding N.Y.U. 2031 to the university’s president at the end of the spring semester.